WASHINGTON: A bill signed by President Donald Trump on Monday asks the Pentagon to pursue more options for defeating US-bound North Korean missiles by using radar and more missiles to spot and shoot down inbound threats.
The National Defence Authorization Act gives the Pentagon $716 billion, with almost $10 billion going to the Missile Defence Agency to fund the expansion of missile defences, emphasizing the need to stop any North Korean or Iranian attacks.
The military is already exploring whether the United States can add another layer to defences to those already in place for intercepting incoming missiles in flight, Keith Englander, the US Missile Defence Agency’s director for engineering, said at the Space and Missile Defence Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, last week.
The Missile Defence Agency’s head, Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, has said he wants to integrate the Aegis Combat System into the current ICBM defences of the US homeland. The Aegis system, mainly found on ships, could be fitted with the Standard Missile 3 Block IIA (SM-3 IIA) interceptors that are being developed in a joint venture between Raytheon Co and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
The Lockheed Martin Corp-made Aegis system is currently deployed aboard 36 US Navy ships, as well as at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Hawaii. Concern about US missile defences has grown with the escalating threat from North Korea. Last year, North Korea conducted about a dozen missile tests. — Reuters
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